Machine for applying capsules to bottles.



PATENTED JAN. 8,1907.

E. W. POTTS.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING CAPSULES T0 BOTTLES.

APPLICATION FILED DEG. 27 1904.

mums-SHEET 1. v

---- i M: v fl f a 42% gumutnr witnesses: I fl g u M M e No. 840,710. IPATENTED JAN. 8, 1907.

E. W. POTTS.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING CAPSULES TO BOTTLES.

APPLiOATION FILED DEO.27,|1904.

' 4 SHEETS-SHEET 2 witnesses:

PATENTED' JAN. 8, 1907.

E. W. PoTTs. MACHINE FOR APPLYING CAPSULES T0 BOTTLES.

APPLIOATION FILED DEC. 27. 1904.

4 SHEETS-SHEET a PATENTED'JAN. 8, 1907.

'E. w. POTTS.

MACHINE FOR APPLYING CAPSULES T0 BOTTLES.

- APPLICATION FILED DEG. 27v 1904.

4' SHEETS-SHBET 4.

witnesses 0% J. 41 zrww being'hadto the accompanying the machine; aportion of the. end of the table To all whom it may concern/ machine.

thereto. Fig. 4'is a UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELIJAH w. orrs. OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH To JOHN C.METZ NER. OFIDETROIT, MICHIGAN. MACHINE FOR APPLYING cAPsu Esfro BOTTLES.

I,'ELIJAH' WoPorrs, a States,.residing at De- Be it known that citizenof the United troit,in the county of gan, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Machines for A1) lying Capsules to Bottles; and Ido declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact descri tion ofthe invention, such as will 'enab e others skilled in the.art*to whichit appertains to make and use the same,

drawings, and to the figures of reference marked thereon, which form apart of this'specificatiom This. invention relates to a machine forplacing tin-foil capsules upon the necks of 'ottles; and it consists inthe construction and arrangement of 'set forth, and claims. a i

The objects of the invention are to. roduce a machine of the character,descrlbed wherein the bottles are automatically carried into position,the ca sules cut and. placed thereon, and the bott es dischargedfrom theThe above objects are attained by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- F'gure 1 is a front elevation of themachine, the endless carrier appearing in transverse section. Fig. 2 isa side elevation of parts hereinafter fully pointed out particularly thebeing broken awa Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical section t ough thecompressionhead, showing the position of the neck of a bottle [thereinwhen a'lpplying the capsules oriz'ontal section on line. 4 4 of Fig. 1.Fig.- 5 is a fragmentary view in elevation of a portion of the carrieror conveyer-chain, showing'one "of the bottleholding standsmountedthereonj Fig. 6 is a sectlonal 'view as on line 6 6 of Fig. 5. hFig. 7 is afragmentary view elevation of a p'0r tion of the feedingmechanism. Fig. 8 is an edge view of the ratchet-wheel shown in Fig. 7,showing in elevation the pawl in engagement therewith. Fig. 9 is anelevation of the compression-head and the die through which said headasses in the operation of cutting the capsu es, a stri of the foil fromwhich thecapsule is forme lying across the die. Fig. 10 is a centralvertlcal section through Fig. 9, showing the compression- Specificationof Letters Patent. Application filed December 27. 1904. Serial No. 23,462.

Wayne, State of Michireference from becoming broken. over thesprocket-wheels l lat the opposite Y PatentedJanhB, 190?.

head descended upon the neck of the. bottle imposition preparatory tothe application of 5'5 pressure to force the capsule into place.

Fig.11 is a horizontal section as on line 1 1 1 1 of Fig. 10. Fig. 12 isan elevation of the inner face of one of the cam-disks whichcause avertical reciprocationlof the compressionhead. -Fig. 13 is a sectional.view 1n detail through one of the vertical adjusting-screws and itsembracing threaded sleeve, throu' h "the operation of which the machinemay e adjusted to accommodate bottles-of varying heights.

' Referring to the characters of reference, 1 designates a suitabletable supported by the legs 2. Upon'the top of the table and running lonitudinally th'er'eof. is a confining- ;Way 3, .a apted to receive anddirect the en less conveyor on which the bottles are presented to andcarried from the capsule-applying mechanism of the machine. The endlessconveyer comprises a suitable chain 4, (see Fig. 4,) the blocks 5 ofwhich are pivoted at 6 to" the bases 7. Projecting from theupperlfacesof the bases are the ms8, so set as to receive and confine the ottles 9when .placed therein, said base and; pins forming a bottle-receivingstand. These stands a are placed as closely togetherupon the endlesschain as they can be arranged, and upon the bottom thereof. is arubberlpa d 10, which serves to cushion-the bottle and prevent it Thechain 4 passes end of the table 1, one of said wheels being mounted upona shaft 12,, through themedium of which the chain is.driven.. Mountedupon theshaft of each ofthe sprocket-wheels 11 is a roller 13, whichstands upon opposite sides ,of' said wheel and affords .a bearing forthe base 7 of the stands oftlle bottles9 as .saidstands are rounding thesprocket-Wheels whenpassing from' the upper to the lower side of thetable, and vice versa, thereby preventing the stands from tippingandgetting out of position to properly; enter the housing 14,;secured tothe under side ofthe table, which embraces and confines said standswhile they are being returned to the initial end of-themachine.

Supported above the Itableis a platform 15', carrying the paralleluprights 16, having upon their inner faces the vertical guideways 17,adapted to receive and direct the beveled 1 slides 18, attached to theupper end of the con'ipression-head. The compression-head, as shown inFigs. 3 and 10, is a'hollow cylinder having at its upper edge a threadedflange 20, adapted toscrew into a tapped opening in the lower end of theannular collar 21, to which the lower end of the slides 18 are secured.Within the annular collar 21 is cation between the air-chamber 22 andthe air-chamber 25 within said head. The inner wall of the. chamber 25within the compression-head consists of a diaphragm 26, of rub-' her orother elastic material, forming a socket or chamber 27, separated fromthe chamber 25 by said diaphragm. The lower end of said diaphragm issecured in the opening of the compression-head by means of a ring 28,having a peripheral channel in which the lower end of the diaphragm 26,which is tubular in shape, is confined by a bindingstrand 29, said ring28 being confined by a threaded ring 30, which screws against it. Theupper end of the elastic diaphragm 26 is secured in the peripheralchannel of the ring 38 by means of the binding-strand 39, lying in saidchannel, the ring 38being confined a threaded disk 40, which screws intothe re-. Screwed duced upper end of the head 19. centrally through thecollar .21 is a tube 41, whose reduced lower end passes through the disk40 and ring 38 and extends into the chamber 27. Fitted to reciprocatewithin said tube is a plunger42, having a rubber buller 43 in its lowerend, adapted to bear upon the cork of the bottle. In the plunger 42 is alongitudinal channel 44, into which extends a set-screw 45, which passesthrough the wall of the tube 41, whereby the plunger is confined inplacewithin said tube and is permitted a longitudinal reciprocation. Confinedbetween the upper end of the plunger. and the upper end of the tube 41is a spring 46 of such ;tension as to hold the plunger down against thecork of the bottle, yet per.- mitting the plunger to move upwardly toaccommodate a bottle of unusual height. Communicating with the interiorof the airchamber- 22 is an air-pipe 47, adapted to be connected by ahose 48 to a source of air or other suitable fluid under pressure.

Lying within the lower opening of the compression-head against the rings28 and 30 is a bufi' er 31, preferably of rubber, having a lateralflange 32, which lies against the lower end of said head and is confinedby the shoulder 33 on the collar 34, which screws onto the lower end ofsaid head, whereby the rubber bufi'er becomes securely retained inplace.

, The collar 34 is provided with a lower-cutting the disks 53.

edge 35, which, in conjunction with the compression-head to which it isattached, forms a punch adapted to coact with the die 36, through whichthe lower end of the head passes in its reciprocatory movement, wherebythe tin-foil capsules are blocked out from the sheet 37, which is fedover said die 36 when the head is raised, as shown in Figs. 1 and 9,said die being located in the platform 15 in the path of saidreciprocatory head.

The compression-head is caused to reciprocate vertically through themedium of the connecting-rod 49, attached at its lower end to thevertical slides 1-8 and passing through the vertical guide 50, the upperend of said rod having a T-head 51, adapted to engage in the heart-shapecainways 52 in the opposite faces of the o posed disks 53, mounted uponand rotatab e with the main shaft 54, journaled in suitable bearings onthe uprights 16' and carrying the belt-pulley 55, through the medium ofwhich it is driven; It willbe observed that a rotation of the shaft 54will-cause a reciprocation of the rod 49 through the engagement of itsT-head inthe camways therein, thereby reciprocating thecompression-head. This vertical reciprocation of said head-is necessaryto cause it to descend over the neck of the bottle in the operation ofapplying thecapsules and rise therefrom to permit the capsuled bottle topass along and a succeeding bottle to take its lace, at the same timesevering the capsules rom the strip or blank of the tin-foil andpresenting them over the necks of the bottles in succession as saidbottles arepresented to said head. To control the passage of air to thechamber 25 in the compression-head, there is employed an ordinarythree-way airvalve 56, actuated by'a lever.57, pivoted to the lower endof a vertically-rec1pr0catoryrod 58, whose upper end stands in the athof the curved lug 59 on the outer face 0 one of As said disks revolvetocause the head to descend upon the neck of a bottle the lug 59 at theproper moment will trip the rod 58 to open the valve and allow a flow ofair into the chamber 25. When the In 59 passes from contact with theupper end 0 the rod 58, the coiled compression-spring 60 thereon willreturn said rod and close the airvalve.

The tin-foil from which the capsules are cut pre aratory to theirapplication to the necks 0 thebottles is provided in the form of anarrow strip or sheet 37, wound upon a .spool 61 and carried between thefeed-rollers 62-, the lower one of which turns in a pastebox 62, thenceover the die 36, and between the feed-rollers 63. To provide for-i111arting an intermittent movement to the eedrollers coincident with theupward movement of the. compression-head, there is employed upon the endof shaft 54 a disk 64, having in the side thereof a camway 65, into ofthe rollers 63.

iparts to the rollers:

" 82.- To ini which extends the whose lower end 1s pivoted to'an' arm68, ournaled on theend. of the shaft 69, mountthe arm 68 is aspring-actuated apted to engage the ratchet-teeth By this arrangement asthe shaft 54 revolves the 'camway in the disk'64 will raise the rod 67and actuate said pawl to impart an intermittentrotation to the gearwheel 72 and the shaft 69. mitted tothe feed-rollers throughthe mediumof the pinion 73 on the shaft.74 of one the end ofshaft 74 is a'sprocket wheel 75, over which passes sprocketchain 76, said shaft 7 8 ofone of t e rollers 62 and over the t e rollers 63'.

catory movement the sheet of tin foil is fed along such distance-astopresent a new blank for a succeeding capsule over the orifice in.

the die '36,; so as to enable said blank to. be

struck therefrom upon the next descent of, said punch and carried upontheneck 0f the bottle below. issuch The shapeflof the camway 65 thatduring the vertical reciprocation of. the compression-head the pin 66will lie in the concentric portion 81 ofsaid, way and impart no movementthrough the connected The strip of; tin-foil 37 om which theblanks havebeen cut is fed by'the rollers 63 into a suitable receptacle part to theendless carrier ,which conveys the bottles into position under the.reciprocatory 'co'mpression headand pro erly-time .the movement ofsaidiparts, "t e shaft 12, which drives the endlesschain or carrierconta1ning the bottle-stands, is turn driven through the medium of theshaft 69, u on the end of which is a beveled wheel 83, w 'c'h mesheswith a like wheel 84' on the vertical shaft 85,0n

. a beveled earwheel 86, which meshes with the bevele v ciprocation tlesin the sheet and places it over pinion 87on the shaft12.

In the operation of the machine the rota?- tion ofthe shaft 54 willcause-a vertical reof the com ression-head and punch, an intermittentfeeding of the sheet of tin foil, and an intermittent movement to theendless carrier, which presents the bot- .path of the reciprocatoryhead. The bottles are laced in thestands upon the carrier byhan or inany suitable manner and. ;arepresented successivelyin the vertical pathof :the reciprocatory head, which upon its descent cuts ablankoftin-foil from the the neck of a bottle, asshown at 88 in Fig. 10, inwhichposition the rubber buffer 31 makes an air-ti ht closure upon theneck of the bottle and t e rub-.

pin 66, carried at theupper end ofthe angularreciprocatory rod 67,

I capsule 88 tightly ,thereto. After the capsuleghas been firmlyh smovement is trans- I sprocketfchain also," passing over the slprocketwheel77on the. 20

.s roc et-wheel 79' on the shaft -of one, of whereby as thecompressionfeed-rollers will be actuate head 19 lstraveling upwardly inits recipro 91 s'u-pportedon the table 1 there being as u it .whichreceives the re the lower end of ,whiclris just the machine to bottlesof I 11 order to providefor the ber 25under suffici'entpressure to forcethe elastic diaphragm 26 into contact with'the contour of the cork andneck of the bottle, as

shown in Fig.3, thereby compressing the into place without injury forcedinto place the In 59 will havepassed om engagement with fi e end of therod 58, when-the s ring ,60'will raise said rod and open the va ve56,which isa' common threewayivalve, thereby allowing the air in chamber25,to escape to the atmosphere [through the port 89., 'A further rotationof the shaft 54-will cause the compression-head toarise, and the carrierwill'be moved alongto carrya sncceeding bottle into osition, and the topresent-a new blankof tin-foil overthedie 36, following which thecompression-head spend and the operation will be" re eated. When the.carrier containing the which have been cap edaor to which the capsuleshave been app ied reaches the end of 'the. table,;they are removed fromthe stands of the carrier in any suitable, manner, To

provide for raising and lowering'theplatform 5, s0 as to accommodatevarious hei hts of bottles, said platform is supported at. .1 tscorottles will again denersyupon the screw-shafts 9.0,. which passdownwardly. through are made telescopic, as shown in Fig. 13,are;so.cket.formed :in the e IgJPQI 4 sections thereof,

uceds uared .end porthe lower sections 92 of the upper ends 0 'tionsthereof, sald lower sectionspassing through the sleeves 9 1 and,receiving upon their lower ends the beveled gears 93, which mesh withlike gears 94 on thehdrizontal shafts 95, which extend transverselyofthe table and carry at their outerends the cranks 96, through the mediumof which the -ma berotated. V U sai sha s 95 the screw-s afts.-90areturned so as to screw them into and ontof the sleeves -91,and'therebyvary the distance between the platform-l5 and the table 1, soas to ad- Various he ghts. vertical movement of the platform 15,the'verticalshaft is provided with a telescopic joint, as

shown-at 97. I

thus fully set forth my invention,

Havin What I c aim as new, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

the threaded sleeves Said shafts .on the rotation of 1. A machine forapplying tin-,foilflcap? sules to bottles, comprising a reciprocatorycompression-head adapted to receive the neck of a bottle, aflexiblediaphragm within adapted to move 'over and embrace the neck of a bottle,a flexible diaphragm adapted to surround the neck of the'bottle Withinsaid head, a pressure-chamber arbund'said diaphragm, means for admittingair to Said chamber and discharging it therefrom While the neck of thebottle is withinthe complies-i sion-head and the reciprocatory plungerf'standing within the dia hragm and adapted: to bear upon the cork 0 thebottle.

3. In a machine for applyin capsules to: bottles, the combination with te reciproca tory. compression-head having a socket to, receivethe neckof the bottle ahd, compress the capsules thereon, means for 'automat-Vically placing the capsules on, the necks of the bottles preparatorytotheii entrance into, said head, means for, operating said head tovcause it to embrace the necks of the bottles; and Withdraw therefrom,and means for pre-. senting the bottlessuccessively to s'aid?head.,

4. A machine for applying foil capsules to, the necks of, bottles,comprising a c'ompres-. sion-head' having .a socket to, receive thenecks, of the' bottles and compress the Vcap-. sules thereon, means forcutting the cap sules and placing them uponthe necks of the bottles inadvance of the compressing opera-. tion means for causin the capsulesto, forc bly conform to the necks. of the bottleswhen embraced bysaidhead and means for automatically presenting the bottles to andremoving them from said head.

5. A machine for applying foil capsules to the necks of bottles,comprising a verticallyreci rocatory compression-head, a flexible diap am in said head adapted to embrace the-'nec s of the bottles, acompression chamber around said diaphragm; means for admittingfluidunder pressure to said chamher, and exhausting it therefrom, a carrer movable under-said head, said carrier having bottle-stands adapted toresent the bottles successively in the path osaidreciprocatory head,meansfor reciprocating said head and imparting an intermittent movementto said carrier. v i i 6. A machine for applying foil capsulesto thenecks of bottles, comprising a reciprocatory compression-headadapted byits move-' ment to descend over. the'necks of the bottles in successionand rise therefrom, means for applying the capsules to the necks of thebottles in advance of the'descent of saidhead, feed-rollers for feedingthe foil from" which the capsules are cut, means for actuating said,rollers intermittently, a horizontal conveyer carrying stands adapted toreceive the bottles, said conveyor bein movable to present the bottlessuccessively in the path of the reciprocatory head and means forimparting an intermittent movement to said conveyer.

'In testimony whereof I sign this specifica tion in the presence of twowitnesses.

E. & WHEELER, L G. HOWLETT.

